The invention relates to stages for use in projection microlithography. The invention is particularly related to stages for use in projection lithography employing short wavelength radiation. The invention is particularly related to stages for use in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems.
The use of extreme ultraviolet soft x-ray radiation provides benefits in terms of achieving smaller feature dimensions but due to the nature of the radiation, it presents difficulties in terms of manipulating and directing such wavelengths of radiation and has delayed the commercial lithographic manufacturing use of such radiation.
The present invention provides for an economically manufactured lightweight support stage that is stable and provides an improved extreme ultraviolet soft x-ray based projection lithography method/system. The present invention economically provides for the making of support stages for use in projection lithography method/system to support components of the process such as a mask or wafer. The present invention economically provides for the making of support structure stages for use in extreme ultraviolet soft x-ray based projection lithography method/system to support components and substrates of the process such as optics, reflective members, mirrors, masks or wafers.
Projection lithography is a powerful and essential tool for microelectronics processing and Extreme UltraViolet (EUV) is now at the forefront of research in efforts to achieve smaller and smaller desired feature sizes on wafers. With projection photolithography, a mask is imaged through a reduction-projection lens onto a wafer. Masks for EUV projection lithography typically comprise a substrate coated with an x-ray reflective material and a pattern fabricated from an x-ray absorbing material that is formed on the reflective material. In operation, EUV radiation from the condenser is projected toward the surface of the mask and radiation is reflected from those areas of the mask reflective surface which are exposed, i.e., not covered by the x-ray absorbing material. The reflected radiation effectively transcribes the pattern from the mask to the wafer positioned downstream from the mask. A scanning exposure device uses simultaneous motion of the mask and wafer, with each substrate being mounted on a chuck that is attached to an X-Y stage platen, to continuously project a portion of the mask onto the wafer through projection optics. Scanning, as opposed to exposure of the entire mask at once, allows for the projection of mask patterns that exceed in size that of the image field of the projection lens. Mirrors are mounted along the sides of a stage; and interferometer heads that direct laser beams onto the associated mirrors and detect the beam reflection therefrom are employed for position measuring purposes. Movement of the stage is accomplished with motorized positioning devices. A stage similarly supports the wafer substrate.
The invention includes a method of making a lithography stage. The method includes providing a Ti doped SiO2 glass powder comprised of a plurality of particles of Ti doped SiO2 glass; providing a binder, said binder for binding said Ti doped SiO2 glass particles together; depositing a layer of said Ti doped SiO2 glass powder in a confined region to provide an underlying layer; applying said binder to one or more selected regions of said layer of Ti doped SiO2 glass powder to bind at least two of said Ti doped SiO2 glass particles together to form a primitive, said applying binder bonding said glass powder together at said one or more selected regions; depositing an above layer of said Ti doped SiO2 glass powder above said deposited layer; applying said binder to one or more selected regions of said above layer with said binder bonding said glass powder together at said one or more selected regions; repeating the steps of depositing an above layer and applying a binder thereto for a selected number of times to produce a selected number of successive layers with said binder bonding said successive layers together; and removing the unbonded glass powder which is not at said one or more selected regions to provide a bonded Ti doped SiO2 glass powder lithography stage structure.
The method includes a method of making a lithography stage. The method include providing a plurality of glass particles; providing a binder, said binder for binding said glass particles together; depositing a layer of said glass particles in a confined region to provide an underlying layer; applying said binder to one or more selected regions of said layer of glass particles to bind at least two of said glass particles together to form a primitive, said applying binder bonding said glass particles together at said one or more selected regions; depositing an above layer of said glass particles above said deposited layer; applying said binder to one or more selected regions of said above layer with said binder bonding said glass particles together at said one or more selected regions; repeating the steps of depositing an above layer and applying a binder thereto for a selected number of times to produce a selected number of successive layers with said binder bonding said successive layers together; removing unbonded glass particles which are not at said one or more selected regions to provide a bonded glass particle lithography stage structure.
The invention includes method of making an EUV lithography structure, said method comprising the following steps: providing a plurality of glass particles; providing a binder, said binder for binding said glass particles together; depositing a layer of said glass particles in a confined region to provide an underlying layer; applying said binder to one or more selected regions of said layer of glass particles to bind at least two of said glass particles together to form a primitive, said applying binder bonding said glass particles together at said one or more selected regions; depositing an above layer of said glass particles above said deposited layer; applying said binder to one or more selected regions of said above layer with said binder bonding said glass particles together at said one or more selected regions; repeating the steps of depositing an above layer and applying a binder thereto for a selected number of times to produce a selected number of successive layers with said binder bonding said successive layers together; removing unbonded glass particles which are not at said one or more selected regions to provide a bonded glass particle EUV lithography structure.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which follows, and in part will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from that description or recognized by practicing the invention as described herein, including the detailed description which follows, the claims, as well as the appended drawings.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are merely exemplary of the invention, and are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principals and operation of the invention.